En Atendant

In 2010, the premiere of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s En Atendant – a choreographic and musical exploration based on the Ars Subtilior – was presented in Avignon in the Cloître des Célestins. This subtle polyphonic mannerism from the 14th century was centred above all on the intensity of expression – that of an ‘expectant’ humanity amid the political and religious chaos of mediaeval society. The work is ‘a faraway mirror of our time’ for the choreographer, who has chosen to have her dancers move on an empty earthen stage in the twilight, to the rhythm of interlacing voice, recorder and hurdy-gurdy. En Atendant – a refined form of poignant density, carried by the intense presence of bodies moving from day to night – continues with its dawn version, Cesena. This diptych will once again be performed outdoors to open the season.